Tucked between Ferment and pFriem on the Hood River waterfront is Wilderton Botanical Spirits. The Non-Alcoholic distiller opened their tasting room at the beginning of July with three products, Lustre (gin), Earthen (whiskey) and Bittersweet Apertivo.
I had both a taster of the three as well as one of their two seasonal mocktails to see what was what.
The Apertivo was my least favorite but I am not on the bandwagon for the spirit in either version. Weirdly bitter and tasted of beets. Earthen seemed a really pale comparison to whiskey. No oak or vanilla or coconut, it just sort of sat there. The faux gin was easily the best of the bunch. Botanicals just fit with gin.
The genius bit of the tasting was that each of the three N/A spirits had a sample cocktail. Tonic for Lustre, ginger ale for Earthen both really worked because the Fever Tree drinks are top notch. The G&T could have fooled people.
It is a small but welcoming space and a fantastic diversion from the beer and cider in Hood River.